Meat clamp



Oct. 12 1926.

1,602,760 c. J. EDELEN MEAT CLAMP Filed Oct. 22 1925 Tjiqfb- ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 12, 1926.

UNITED STATES COLLINGS JAMES EDELEN,

MEAT

Application filed October 22, 1925.

The invention has for its object to provide a simple and efficient meat clamp that may be readily secured upon a table or cutting block and operable to securely hold meat or other articles while they are being cut,

sliced, or otherwise worked upon.

The invention further seeks to provide a clamp of the type stated wherein the clamping action may be quickly and conveniently accomplished by one hand of the user, whercin the range of clamping action may be readily varied without disassembly or the appli cation of any additional parts, and in which the clamp release and the clamp locking actions may be accomplished by reverse movements of a simple lever device.

IVith the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the invention further resides in the novel details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, all of which will be first fully described, then be particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention in use.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the invention illustrating-the clamp releasing position of the parts in full lines and the clamping position in dotted lines.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the invention the T bar being shown in section.

In the drawing, in which like numerals of reference indicate like parts in all of the figures, 1 represents the meat block or other supporting medium to which the plate 2, which forms a part of the supporting means of the'invention, is secured through the medium of the screws 3.

The plate 2 has a pair of side rails 4 provided with opposed grooves 5 which serve to provide a vertical guideway for the T bar 6 hereinafter again referred to.

The side rails 1 are provided with extended ears 7 which serve as supports for the pivot pintle 8 upon which is mounted the clamping lever 9.

The T bar 6 is vertically slidable in the supporting and guide member provided by the parts 2 and 4 and is provided at its other end with a horizontally turned head clamp portion 10 having a suitable number of downwardly projecting clamping teeth 11. It will be observed by reference to Figure 1 5 of the drawing that the head clamp portion 10 projects above the meat supporting block or LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

CLAMP.

Serial No. 64,269.

1 so that when the T bar 6 is forcibly moved downwardly the head and the teeth dependmg therefrom will tightly clamp the meat upon the support, as indicated in the same figure.

To provide for the proper clamping of the head .10 the rear rib of the T bar 6 is provided with a ratchet portion 12. A pawl 13 is pivoted to the lever 9, as at 14, the pivots 8 and 14: lying out of alignment with the longitudinal axis of the lever, a light spring 15 being provided, if desired, continuously tending to keep the pawl in engagement with the ratchet.

In operation, the guide and support provided for the members 2 and 4: is secured upon the block or table 1 in the manner indicated in Figures 1 and 2 and the T bar 6 is inserted vertically into the guide grooveway with the clamp 10 just above the meat or other article to be held upon the block. By forcing the lever 9 downwardly to the position indicated in full lines in Figure 1 and in dotted lines in Figure 2, the clamp head will be caused to move downwardly tightly to hold the meat or other article to be clamped,with the teeth 11 firmly embedded therein and preventing any tendency to shift position under strains. With the lever in the lowered position the pivot 14 will lie between the ratchet and the pawl 8 so as to constitute a toggle lock for the lever, pawl and ratchet, so that the parts will be held to their normal clamped position without the necessity of being held by the hand of the operator. 7

After the article has been suitably worked upon and it is desired to release the same, the operator, by raising the lever 9 vertically upward will cause the pawl to be'with- "drawn from the ratchet through its engagement with the pivot pin 8, see Figure 2, thus leaving the T bar 6 free to be raised to with Idraw the teeth 11 from the article being eld. I

In the structure I have disclosed above, a simple and effective clamping device is provided which may be very quickly and conveniently adjusted to a wide range of clamping positions without troublesome removal and insertion of parts and by the use of but a single head.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, it is thought that the novel details of con struction, manner of operation and the ed;

vantages of my invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which it appertains.

What I claim is:

1. A device of the class described adapted to be mounted upon a support and comprising a guide member having a guide groove- Way, a clamping member vertically slidable in the grooveway and having a clamping head extending over the support and ratchet teeth, a lever pivoted to the guide, and a pawl pivoted to the lever, said lever being movable in one direction to cause the pawl to engage the ratchet teeth and move the clamping member to a clamping position, and in the other direction to release the pawl from engagement with the ratchet.

2. A device of the class described adapted to be mounted upon a member having a guide grooveway, a clamping member vertically slidable in the grooveway and having a clamping head extending over the support and ratchet teeth, said guide having ears extending beyond the ratchet teeth, a lever pivoted to the extended ears, and a pawl movable in one direction to cause the pawl to engage the ratchet teeth and move the clamping member to aclamping position. and in the other direction to release the pawl from engagement With the ratchet, the pivots of the lever and the pawl being so corelatively positioned as to provide for toggle locking the lever at its clamping position.

COLLINGS JAMES EDELEN. 

